Canadian Museum of Nature

Kristal and I have started working on a large LEGO project to recreate the Canadian Museum of Nature here in Ottawa. This is actually part of a larger project that our local LEGO club (ParLUGment) is spearheading, to build various landmarks in the Ottawa region, and since Kristal and I love this museum so much, we decided to make it the subject of our build.

You can continue reading for more details on the model, along with some progress photos, but I also put together an update video going over all the details, which you can watch below.

We’ve been actively working on it over the last couple of months, and I would guess we are somewhere around half way finished. The building itself will be around 1/2 minifig scale, but even so, it will be quite large, sitting on a footprint of 184 x 80 studs (130 x 64 cm). Here is a photo of the base, with the mostly finished foundation.

If you have been following any of our social media accounts, you may have noticed the short videos we’ve been posting, illustrating some of the unconventional building techniques we’ve using to recreate parts of the building. The rotunda below is built around a frame of Technic angle connectors, with the buttresses loosely, but securely, slotted in between the wall sections. You can watch how it is built in this video: https://youtube.com/shorts/Fq6GdiucnPM

Despite the building being 1/2 minifig scale, we are planning to have some minifig scale displays on the inside, visible via some removeable wall panels. Since space inside is limited, we obviously won’t be able to recreate everything inside the museum. We’ll instead focus on some key exhibits, like the Blue Whale skeleton in the water gallery, a prototype of which you can see below.

We’re also planning on adding some little Eater egg vignettes, visible through the windows. These won’t really be recreating items that are inside the museum itself, but instead be fun little thematic displays to put a smile on peoples faces. For example, Kristal built this fun ocean scene in this corner, with a dolphin that even ‘swims’.

There is still a fair bit to design, mostly related to the interior details, and we’ll be posting updates on our social media accounts and Patreon, if you want to follow along. We have no set deadline for the model, but we are hoping to have it complete by fall of this year.